Organisers of the Abbots Langley Carnival are offering cash to schools in the village to encourage them to enter floats into the event next month.

Currently six floats are registered for the event, which is being organised by the Lions Club of Watford, and in a bid to increase the number of entrants the charity are offering £100 to each school.

Despite fears that there are a shortage of floats for this year’s float procession, Allen Harvey, chairman of the Abbots Langley carnival committee said he is "sure they will get more" floats.

Only schools that register a float in the procession will receive a donation and the money will help cover the costs of producing a float for the village carnival, which will be held on Saturday June 14.

Allen Harvey said: "School floats tend to be the biggest and most attractive floats.

"It is an incentive. To produce these floats takes a lot of time and expenditure and without them; the event would not be the same.

"The number looks quite low, but we get some late entries nearly every year and we do get 15 or 20 floats. We would be disappointed if we did not get over 15 entries all together. We do not want just half a dozen otherwise it will be a bit of a damp squib."

The floats will be judged at 11am on School Mead, before setting off for Abbots Langley High Street at 12pm.

The procession will start at School Mead, before heading down Hazelwood Lane towards Gallows Hill Lane, Popes Road before turning on to Trowley Rise, before heading up Tibbs Hill Road, before arriving at the High Street between 12.45 and 1pm.

Brian Turner, member and ex-president of the Lions Club of Watford, said: "Usually all the schools put a float in. It might help them with the things they need to build. It might help them to boost their ideas.

"It might be that there is a shortage of funds."

In April Abbots Langley Parish Council, who are supporting the yearly carnival, gave the Lions Club of Watford a grant of £2,000 to help cover the costs of the carnival and the fireworks display in November.

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